General Information

  My great-grandfather served with the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Siberia.  He appears in several of the photos (that's him with the shaving cream on his face standing in the boxcar and in the street scene in Hawaii).  These photos were apparently taken by an officer he served under.   Since I am named after my great-grandfather, my father suggested that I set up this site and learn more about this war.  For years my great-grandfather shared his experiences in the war with school kids in his home town of Waterman, Illinois.

    Daniel August Leifheit entered service at Sycamore, Illinois on May 2, 1918 at the age of 29.   He was transferred to Jefferson Barracks in Missouri and then to Camp Freemont in California.  He was sent to Siberia in August 1918.  He served as a private in Company C of the 27th Infantry.  He was discharged from the army in the Fall of 1919.

    In July of 1918, the United States War Department, designated the 27th and 31st Infantry Regiments(91 officers and 2692 men) for duty in Siberia. The commanding officer of the expedition was Major General William S. Graves. The CO of the 27th was Colonel Henry D. Styer, and the 31st was commanded by Colonel Frederic H. Sargent. Five thousand men from the 8th Division who were training at Camp Freemont, California were also selected and assigned to the two units.

    The 27th set sail for Manila in the Philippines for Vladivostok, Russia on August 7th. The 31st set sail on August 12 along with a field hospital unit, an ambulance company, Co. D of the 53rd Telegraph Battalion, two sections of Baker Co. 391, Headquarters Detachment, a veterinary field element, Evacuation Hospital 17, and Medical Supply Depot No. 7. General Graves sailed from San Francisco on August 13th with 43 officers and 1,888 men  from Camp Freemont.

    Upon arriving in Siberia, the AEF began to guard the railroad between Vladivostok and Nikolsk-Ussuri, Companies F and G of the 27th being the first AEF units to do so. During late August and early September, the 27th participated in an Allied advance to Ussuri and Habarovsk. The Third Battalion of the 31st taking over railroad guard duty. In early 1919, a group of trained American railroad men commanded by Col. Geo. Emerson, arrived in Siberia to supervise the local railroads. This was known as the Russian Railway Service Corps.

The single most costly engagement  of US troops was at Romanovka on the Suchan Railroad on June 25, 1919. Around 300 Red partisans overran an American company garrisoning that town, killing or wounding 51 of 92. Another major engagement was at Kraevskii Station in Vladivostok on June 9th. There the Americans repulsed an attack by 200 Red partisans, but subsequently gave up the town. There were many such actions between June and July.

    In July 1919, the AEF numbered 338 officers, 8050 men, 17 female nurses and 17 field clerks. In early fall 1919, selective service men from Camp Freemont returned to California for discharge, being replaced by volunteers for the service. By April 1st, 1920 the last elements of the force had left Siberia returning to Manila.

    In the end, the AEF had lost 192 men to bullets and disease according to the book, The Day They Almost Bombed Moscow: The Allied War In Russia, 1918-1920, but the number has also been said to be close to 500.